New ways of living
by ignitingpillow
Summary: Blake, more influenced by Adam and thus resentful against humans is being pursued after failing with her objective given by the White fang. She is severely injured in the process of escaping. Ruby, on the run from a crime she didn't commit sees this and brings Blake back to her hiding place and starts taking care of her. Slowburn ladybug, as little OOC as possible!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all, my first fanfiction ever. Had some trouble deciding on the genre tags, but ended up choosing Adventure/hurt-comfort since there will obviosly be romance, and friendship is a given part of that anyways. The story is planned out to roughly be 40k words with every chapter expect the first being around 2000 words each.**

**No guarantees how well I will be able to follow that though since it's my first time writing a story like this ever. I'll also try to post 1-2 chapters a week but that will probably vary depending on how busy I am.**

**Hope you enjoy reading! **

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**CHAPTER 1  
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She ran through the woods feeling like every step fuelled her heart to pump out more blood through the wound in her back. Her aura was essentially depleted, she was being pursued and even worse was her failure to the fang. Their plans for tonight would be ruined, and they'd likely take a big hit from this. She was not looking forward to meeting with Adam but before she could head back, she had to get rid of her pursuers. She _was _faster, but not enough in the lead to safely hide instead of running. And she didn't know how much further she could run with the stab wound on her back. These thoughts were going on in her head when suddenly an ursa appeared swinging right in front of her. She almost avoided it, but 3 of its claws managed to reach her despite her sidestepping, slicing through her from the collarbone to the stomach without any aura to stop it. Her path now being redirected and on stumbling feet, blind from the pain, she did not see the cliff end and fell. The impact was felt throughout her whole body but before any other sensations could reach her everything went black...

…

Blinking away the blurriness of the world, she woke up in at what at first glance seemed like an unfamiliar setting. A second glance confirmed it was, and panic began to set in. She tried to get up, starting to rise, but then pain overtook her again and she lost consciousness. The next time she opened her eyes she took in a little more of her surroundings without moving any, knowing it would hurt like hell as soon as she became aware of her injuries. She realised she lay in bed, in a cosy but nondescript room. Sunlight streamed in from a single window, lighting up a flowerpot and the windowsill as well as casting light over a desk with some pens and papers. Moving her head slightly to the right, she saw a fireplace in another room but not much else, as the angle was far from optimal. Now having been awake for a few precious painless seconds, her body started to catch up to the brains reawakened activity and decided to send her a reminder how much life sucked. Her whole torso started to burn like fire, pain flared up in her upper left back, right arm and both her legs at different places started throbbing. She bit back any noises that tried to escape her mouth but also held on to consciousness, successfully staying awake throughout the pain. Sadly, it didn't exactly help and she started to realise these places were simply the worst, but essentially her whole body felt bruised and cut up. And realising this was how she felt when laying perfectly still, she gave up and again let herself fade into the nothing-ness.

The next time she opened her eyes, it was because she'd heard something. Her body also felt different, like it at least had had some time to heal. Trying to localise the sound, her heart began to speed up as she thought of her pursuers from before the grimm had appeared. Horrible thoughts about being interrogated during torture by some human flew through her mind, but she didn't dare move knowing there was no way she could escape. The sound, now realising it were steps getting closer speed up her heart even more and alongside the pain she felt sick, knowing she was at the complete mercy of her captors. A door opened, boots were being taken off and her would-be killer came into vision. What she saw made her pause though. A girl dressed in black with a red cape and most likely younger than herself was standing in the doorway with a surprised face and wide eyes. "Oh you're awake hi I'm Ruby" tumbled out of the girls mouth at breakneck speeds and a blush immediately began to set in on the girls face.

…She resigned herself from answering while a mixture of relief from a seemingly innocent looking girl mixed with resentment towards her clearly being human flooded her brain. The panic subsiding, she again closed her eyes and began to think about the situation at hand. She of course didn't know much but could only guess the girl had found her battered body and somehow carried her to wherever the girl lived, as this felt like a rather small house. She didn't know what could've happened to the Ursa, but maybe her pursuers had attracted its attention while also losing her. Or maybe the human girl standing silently, expectantly? close to her bed was a better fighter than what she looked like. The girl must however be quite ignorant to have taken her in, as she must not now what the mask now lying next to the bed signified: that she was a member of the white fang. She supposed she could take advantage of the situation, being tight-lipped around the girl until she'd recovered enough to leave her behind. Maybe stealing some food on the way. Now deciding to answer, trying to not scowl she said "I'm Blake". Or that's at least what she tried to say, but what instead came out sounded like raspy gibberish. Soon finding a glass of water held by the girl pressed against her lips, she felt pathetic but still drank it. Once empty after many extremely painful gulps of the water she again pressed out her name, before exhaustedly collapsing even deeper into the bed and again falling asleep, much too tired to even try fighting it.

*** * * * ***

Ruby watched the strange cat faunus fall back into sleep, feeling a little uneasy. It'd been five days since she'd seen the Ursa attack her and brought her back to her current house, and not for the first time wondering if saving her life was a mistake. She'd immediately recognized the white fang mask. And she very well knew what they were capable off, but there was also not a chance of her not helping anyone in need of it, at least until explicitly proven they didn't deserve it. In that case Ruby didn't know what she'd do, even if she'd already compromised her morals a little during the last two years.

The girl now being awake for the first time had had a sharpness over her of which she lost when asleep, and she hadn't exactly seemed confused or curious about the situation like Ruby had expected either. More calculative and detached if anything, when Ruby tried to analyse her tone and facial gestures.

Ruby shrugged, she was still happy for the company.

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**Thank you so much for reading this far! Chapter 1 basically sets up the situation, and in the next chapter the story will actually start to progress. I know where I wants to go with this and the outlines of what's happening on the way, but just wanted to say don't expect any super advanced plotlines or twists, the story is going to be fairly linear and straight forward.  
**

**Please review, all feedback is welcome!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

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_Blake was running along a small and endless corridor, with doors swinging open left and right to stop her in her path. She kept slamming them shut to keep running, her heart beating at impossible fast rates while what was behind her kept coming nearer, glowing yellow eyes in the dark growing bigger. Suddenly the endless corridor ended, and she swirled around, watching her inevitable demise grow bigger. But then the world started shaking, and the environment around her began to fade away._

"Blake, Blake"… Her eyes shot open, and she found herself staring into Ruby's annoyingly close face. "You were having a nightmare again, so I thought I'd wake you up. Are you okay though?". During the last few days, she'd mostly been asleep, but still had had a few chats with the human. And this was not the first time she'd had a nightmare that woke her up, either by fear or by Ruby. And she hated it, the feeling of being so helpless. So weak a human was pitying her. Not only had she been stabbed by a guard and sliced open by an ursa, but the girl had told her when she fell she'd also broken both her legs and good arm, and bruised up her whole body. She couldn't do a damn thing, and it was a miracle she'd survived at all with so many injuries and so little blood. But that now meant she couldn't even get out of the bed by herself, humiliation following her every breath. A week had passed since that night, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold it in before she snapped at the girl. "I'm fine", she grit out.

"Are you though?" The girl surprised her with. Blake hesitated.

"The nightmare was nothing to speak of, and my body will heal sooner or-"

"I'm not talking about your body. You just seem so angry every time we've interacted, and I think it's directed at me". Blake didn't know what to say. Her cat ears twitched. The girl wasn't wrong, but she couldn't admit that.

The girl waited for an answer, but lost patience. "Anyways, I don't mind this". She gestured towards Blake in bed. "But whatever's wrong you could try talking about it. We're both kind of confined to this place for now, and it might help". At this the girl turned around, walked out and she soon heard the outdoor being opened and closed.

Giving Blake a pause to think and feel bad. She was a human, something Blake knew to be wrong by default. But this girl had saved her life, and by her wording of "confined to this place for now" it didn't seem like she lived here or particularly wanted to. She'd however reassured Blake she didn't mind what Blake assumed meant taking care of her. She couldn't, shouldn't, be mad at someone who had only acted with kindness towards her, despite race. She resolved to be nicer from now on. And start referring to the girl by her name, Ruby. Because Ruby was right, even if only thanks to her kindness they would both be here for a while. Blake's frown came back. She was useless. Alone, and with nowhere in particular to look she tried falling back to sleep. She eventually did, but it took quite a while and was more of a half slumber. Her body had started giving her more and more time awake in the last two days, and she had already slept away most of today.

Anyways, a few hours later she completely awoke by the door opening. Listening in a little she confirmed it was Ruby, who soon made her way towards Blake room. She looked a little tense, understandably.

"Hi Ruby". Blake said in terms of greeting, also trying to smile a little. How that came out is up to debate, but it was an effort.

Ruby relaxed. "Hey Blake" Ruby said in a chirp voice. "I brought you a book! It, it might be a little childish. Have you ever read The songs of the past collection?"

She had, and it brought back some nostalgic memories of her mother reading them out loud as a child. She tried to repress those memories though, as she'd turned her back on her parents long ago and thinking about them hurt. So she turned her focus back to Ruby. "I have. I used to love them as a child but that was long ago. I still know most of them by heart though, they are lovely".

Her answer seemed to surprise Ruby a little, probably because that by far was the longest sentence she had said since waking up five days ago. But Ruby's expression quickly turned excited, and then horrified. "Oh no, I forgot that you aren't just bedridden but really like super hurt!" she exclaimed. "Do you think you can still read it? I'm such an idiot".

Blake hadn't thought about that either. But she probably couldn't, not while both being this weak and having a broken arm. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that yet. But thank you." Simply having this conversation was quite draining. Well, Blake usually found that the case with conversations, but still.

"Alright…" She seemed to contemplate something. "Maybe.. I could read it out loud to you?".

Ruby seemed a little unsure of herself, and Blake opened her mouth to refuse: "That would be nice". Wait what?

"Oh, I didn't think you would want me to but now we can both relive the stories! I haven't read them either since my mother too read them aloud to me". Ruby eagerly opened the book and sat down cross legged on the floor. She was a little too eager probably, because she stumbled over the very first words in the very first sentence, and then blushed.

Trying again but now at a slower pace, Ruby repeated the first sentence and got it right this time. "Long ago atop a mountain in a faraway land of snow and harsh winters, a symbol outside a little cottage was lit up by…

Blake found herself lost in the story. She hadn't expected it, but Ruby was a good narrator. She made a new voice for every new character perfectly capturing each person's essence, and the tone and pitch of her voice changed to fit every mood. It made her forget anything about her prejudices towards the girl as well as her injuries which slowly had faded away. Hearing this particular story again for the first time in so many years was a bittersweet feeling, but it had so fully captured her attention no memories and only feelings rose up in response to what it reminded her off. She was so captured by it she at first didn't even realise Ruby had stopped reading and the first story ended, but when that registered, she quickly snapped out of it and returned to reality alongside all the pains that came with that.

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck a little sheepishly and smiled at her. "I got a little too into it I think haha, sorry about that. It was really fun pretending to be everything and everyone in the story though."

The situation was quite embarrassing overall, but Blake too had gotten way into it and she owed Ruby to at least admit part of that. "I think it was great, have you done this before?".

She had not she told Blake, but she'd tried to emulate how her mother had read it to her as a kid. She seemed a little sad while admitting this, and Blake thought Ruby's mother might be dead. Ruby continued thought and told her she'd also put her own spin on it adding some extra words of dialogue here and there as she'd imagined the characters could've said that as well. Blake hadn't even noticed, but know that she thought back about it she could pinpoint the conversations Ruby was talking about. Blake told Ruby it was nice hearing the story again anyways after so many years, and how it was one of her favourites. She expressed her thoughts about how she thought it had a subtle message of always acting on your own beliefs and how that was nice. Ruby surprisingly hadn't noticed that, and even tried to argue how it was about the power of friendship. Which it certainly wasn't, and anyone should be able to see that.

"But why would she otherwise share the secret with her best friend when no one was to know? And didn't you notice how her friend gave her a healthy meal before the last act of the story?" Ruby almost whined. Blake rolled her eyes and reminded Ruby said friend also let the secret out. Followed by Ruby actually pouting. Who even did that? Shortly after Ruby said she had to fix dinner thought, it was getting late. Several hours had passed after all.

Which left Blake to her own, very limited devices again. It had been nice listening to Ruby, even talking with her. But now that she was gone doubt rose up in Blake. Ruby was a human, yet Blake had looked past that so easily. It hadn't felt wrong, but it should have. Blake had spent so long resenting humans, and fighting for the faunuskind, but now she was helpless and being taken care of by a human girl, who did nothing but treat her exemplary. It almost bemused her, and she wanted to call the girl naïve. But aside from the obliviousness to the fang mask she didn't really think Ruby actually was. She sure seemed like a happy go lucky person most of the time, but Ruby was also here, out in the woods and alone with a likely dead mother. And she hadn't once started a fire in the fireplace, so it did seem like she was hiding. From what, or who Blake couldn't even begin to guess.

Ruby soon came back with a fairly simple soup and started spoon-feeding her while chatting about the weather and woods. Blake hadn't needed much food earlier this week, but now with her decreased sleep time her appetite had come back a little. It was quickly disappearing alongside every meal though, cause few things were as humiliating as this and she had to fight the resentment that arouse again, cause right now her thoughts were neither rational nor fair. She forced out a "thank you", told Ruby she was tired and closed her eyes hoping she would take the hint. She heard a soft "Night" as Ruby exited, and then just lay there in the dark with her thoughts swirling until sleep took her.

*** * * * ***

"Night", Ruby said and closed the door behind her. She let out a soft sigh. It had been a great day, honestly. Ruby wasn't a people person or she at least hadn't been before she had to run. But the last two years with way too little contact had left her deprived of company, so today had been great fun. She'd been courageous enough to actually confront the cat faunus, and it had somehow seemed like it had worked although Ruby didn't know why Blake had acted different afterwards. It was however really fun to read out loud and Ruby had relished the conversations afterwards. It was really lucky Blake liked the story though. Ruby however still didn't understand much of the cat faunus, but her working theory based on the fang mask was that she was racist but perhaps could change her ways. Ruby sure hoped so because she would have to talk about the mask sooner or later, the sight of it always left her with an ugly feeling in her stomach. 

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**Chapter 2, again with some thoughts Ruby has included at the end. I think I like this format, but I don't know how well my writing in third perspective from the point of view of either Blake or Ruby is. Maybe it's confusing? Please let me know if that's the case, otherwise I'll continue in this style.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi again, finally done with chapter 3 :) Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed the first two chapters, you three really cheered me up!  
Hope you enjoy this as well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY**

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**CHAPTER 3  
**

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Blake slowly opened her eyes, blinked a few times and realised it was in the middle of the night. She couldn't find anything out of place and wondered why she'd woken up. She didn't think she could easily go back to sleep easy either, slowly finding some unpleasant thoughts at the forefront of her mind. She could probably leave this house in about two weeks and find her way back to the fang after that. Probably shouldn't say much about Ruby either, the way she had talked with her earlier was… not really okay. Blake was feeling conflicted about the girl though, cause in the dark doubts about her human ancestry rose up again, while she'd found out she had a hard time disliking the girl when she was present. The girl's company and herself was appealing, the more abstract thoughts of her not. Saviour or oppressor? Great company or the enemy? Blake felt stressed out, her world views were in conflict. And the fang along with the cause she had dedicated her life to felt far away, not of any help at the moment. After getting nowhere with her thoughts for a while she stopped thinking and concentrated on focusing on her breath until sleep could take her away…

…

She slowly woke up again, but with relief felt the sun on her face and knew the night now had passed. A closer analysis told her it was past midday and she'd been asleep for quite a while. Some listening later also told her Ruby wasn't in the house, so all she could really do was lie there and wait for something to happen. The seconds ticked by, her leg started to itch a little. She noticed a little dot on the wall which occupied her focus for a short while. The sun moved a centimetre, and a cloud cast shadow over her face. Some sounds where going on in the woods around her, and then the doors burst open in quick succession. Ruby was suddenly standing in the middle of her room with a giant scythe that just barely didn't touch the sailing but still somehow had fit through the door. She had a wild look on her face and grimm blood were slowly dropping down from her raised weapon. Blake thought she looked _magnificent_. Which led to the next thought of why the hell that was her first reaction, and that something definitely was wrong with her.

Ruby was breathing quite heavily, but her expression quickly changed to relief. Meaning Blake didn't even have to begin worrying about Ruby slicing her up or something, but it did make her curious of what Ruby had ben afraid to find. "Ruby? Is everything alright?"

Ruby opened her mouth and reassured here everything was quite alright. She then added "But when I began to head back a while ago from my hunt, I started running into more grimm than what I had further away from this cottage, and a 100m away from here I just killed a beowulf. So I was really worried they would've broken in here since you're, well, not in top fighting condition and easy prey." The last bit Ruby said a bit sheepishly, but Blake knew it was true and was grateful nothing had happened. "Thanks for your concern, but I haven't even noticed anything was wrong. I'm starting to regain my strength though, so maybe I could've crawled down below the bed and hid" Blake said with a smile. It was sadly probably not even true, but Ruby laughed at that which made Blake oddly pleased with herself. Then Ruby folded her weapon together into a more manageable packet and said she'd be right back after switching out of combat attire. She came back a few minutes later with a red tank top and black pants as well as two steaming cups of tea she'd somehow produced, maybe with fire dust. Keeping her colour scheme but now looking less like a feminine grim reaper Blake thought. Ruby helped her take a sip of what turned out to be camomile tea and then asked Ruby about her weapon.

"Crescent rose huh, that's a really good name for it."

"Thanks, I spent a long time thinking about what I would call my baby!" Ruby said both excitedly and in a proud voice.

"That reminds me though, I've been meaning to ask but did you see or bring my weapons here when you rescued me?" Blake asked, nervous about the answer.

But Ruby actually had, and for that Blake was really grateful. Ruby was also quite interested in how Gambol Shroud worked, something Blake couldn't exactly showcase at the moment but tried to explain. They chatted for quite some while about weapons, apparently Ruby wielded a scythe after her uncle who had taught her, and then Ruby proposed she could read for Blake again. Blake accidently eagerly agreed to that but didn't really regret her enthusiastic answer when she saw how happy Ruby's expression was. Today Ruby started with the second story, and only paused her reading occasionally the first 20 minutes to help Blake drink. After that it was probably close to two hours of uninterrupted reading until that story came to its end as well. Just like yesterday they had a nice discussion about it, and although Ruby maybe wasn't the most deep interpreter of fairy tales Blake really cherished the conversation. All good things must come to an end though and after a while Ruby left to make dinner, repeating the same routine as yesterday, complete with the spoon feeding and end of the day.

The next two days passed in much the same manner, and nothing of note really happened. It seemed they had settled into this routine pretty quickly but Blake found it pretty manageable. After the heightened grimm activity though, Ruby wasn't gone for as long as before either and spent even more time with Blake.

On the third day however that had passed in much the same fashion Blake decided to bring up something that possibly wasn't as neutral as the rest of their discussions. She was pretty sure of it anyways, and knew that it probably had saved her anonymity, but after the first dinner that she had eaten by herself which felt like quite the accomplishment she dared to ask Ruby if she was hiding from something.

Ruby was a little pensive at first, but then gained steam as she kept talking. It was clear this was something Ruby was emotional about, naturally. Ruby told the story of how her uncle, a huntsman had asked for her help in investigating a man. Ruby would have the advantage of not being regarded as a threat and was only to passively spy on the man a day, being at a specific dust shop at a specific time. It wasn't supposed to even place her in danger, but the man must have somehow caught wind of her involvement. The dust shop had been blown up, killing 3 customers of whom 1 had been an important politician. Ruby who had just left the place avoided the danger, but two men and a woman witnessed against her immediately, accusing her of igniting fire dust and then having run out of the shop. They made a convincing case and she was to be arrested, but had run from the scene crying. Her uncle had taken care of her and hid her while being impossible sorry and helpless. As a politician was involved her face had made big national and minor international news as a killer. Her uncle told her the man he was investigating had made an example of her to scare him away, and Ruby also told Blake how broken his involvement in her situation had seemed to make him. This was two years ago when Ruby was only 13, and it had been two very lonely years. She couldn't really trust anyone as there was no evidence to her not being a dangerous criminal, and although most people probably would've forgotten her face it made for very unstable relations. So aside from a passing chat with her hood up, or on the rare occasions when she could talk with her family she never really talked with people. But that's also why she was so happy Blake was here now she said, and that's where her tale ended.

"I'm so sorry to hear all of that" was the first thing Blake said, but she regretted it immediately, it was just such a lame thing to say. Coming up with no better words though, she asked Ruby why she had been so relaxed around Blake for the most part.

Ruby seemed a little unsure and stressed out about what to say first, but then she snorted. "I figured you weren't much of a risk running off to the police or trying to capture me anyways". Blake glared at her, but aside from having no thoughts about doing that anyways, she was a criminal herself after all, she knew it was true. "Fair enough. But really, that's awful, and being alone when you're only 13 makes it even worse. I'm glad my broken bones gave you some company at least." Blake paused. "That was a weird thing to say heh, but you're a nice person"

"Thank you, you too!" Ruby said while blushing a little. She then yawned big, rubbed at her eyes and said she was "reeeally" tired and better head off to bed, but they would talk tomorrow about something important.

* * * * *

Ruby faked a yawn as best as she could and added in some eye rubbing as well to really sell in her story, she hoped it was convincing. Otherwise it'd be really embarrassing. In truth, she wasn't tired, and her heart was beating way to fast. Blake seemed to believe her, and she had really appreciated Blake's words. But it had still been draining to recollect everything, and when Blake had asked her about why Ruby hadn't been afraid of her she didn't dare say because Blake was a criminal too. But that was what Ruby's mind was on, and she didn't feel courageous to bring it up today and had instead opted to say goodnight and that they would talk about "something important" tomorrow. Ruby didn't really think she could act normal if she had stayed, because the issue was taking up more and more of Ruby's thoughts. She really wanted Blake to become a friend, after the last days she already considered her to be one. But that was why she was really afraid to find out if her new and only friend behind a mask was some sort of stone cold terrorist. Cause that would suck. It was however important to find out, because as long as she was still healing and not very strong she didn't pose much of a threat, but considering how close to death Blake had been she was getting better pretty fast. And Ruby didn't want to wake up with a knife in her face in case she had misjudged the girl that badly. Not probable, but maybe she really was stupid or Blake just an expert actor. Still, Blake seemed genuine in her conversations and everything. Ruby also thought her to be softer than when she'd first woken up.

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**English isn't my native language, so please feel free to point out anything weird going on. Otherwise, thanks for reading and please review if you feel up to it. Also feel free to ask any questions about the story as well if you have any.  
**

**Next chapter will bring up Blake's allegiance, should be fun to write. Till next time :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY  
Happy reading!  
**

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**Chapter 4**

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When she woke up the next day, Ruby had already left two sandwiches on her bedside table and left the house. Blake spent some time slowly eating the sandwiches since it was still quite taxing and swallowing stuff hurt. But after that she just settled down and waited like the day before, since she still couldn't leave the bed herself. It was definitely earlier than yesterday so she was prepared for the time to pass very slowly until Ruby came back. Luckily for her however the door soon opened, and a few minutes later Ruby made her way into the room. Unlike yesterday she didn't hurry, but she seemed to be quite on edge and unsure about something. Blake opened her mouth to great her, but Ruby shock her head, giving Blake enough of a surprise to keep from speaking.

Ruby remained standing for a few moments, then she walked up beside her, bowed down and picked up Blake's white fang mask from below the bed. "We need to talk" she said. Blake managed to keep a straight face while casually saying "Ookay, about what?".

"Cut the crap, I know you're a member of the white fang. The mask is not exactly unsubtle you know." Ruby said with a frown.

Thoughts were rushing through Blake's head faster than she could properly consider them, and not for the first time since she got hurt her heart started hammering in her chest. The white fang was neither legal nor harmless, and Blake knew a human wouldn't understand. She felt claustrophobic and angrily said "What about it?", causing Ruby to take a step back and look at her with wide and sad eyes. "They are murderers!"

"_We_, are simply doing what's necessarily to further our rights. Violence yields results and humans will listen to nothing else" Blake snapped back. She felt cornered and on the defensive already, and Ruby obviously wanted more answers than this. "You shouldn't be a part of them Blake! That is not true, and you have to know that. They hurt humans, that doesn't help other faunus". Ruby seemed more upset than angry, but also a little scared of her.

"The white fang is my life Ruby, and there is no other alternative. I can't do nothing, even if you don't understand that. Humans don't threat us right, and for their crimes they sometimes have to pay."

"Their crimes? I'm a human too, and I saved your life. Doesn't that mean anything? And if you want equality, then that must mean humans and faunus are almost the same doesn't it so how can you kill _people?" _Ruby said with a frantic voice, it seemed she was getting worked up. But so were Blake.

"It means that there is one good human, and I'm indebted to you. But for the whole of humanity that doesn't mean anything at all! You've threated us like animals for too long, and we're fighting back now. The white fang doesn't kill if we can avoid it, but there will always be casualties in war" Blake grit out.

"My mum died" Ruby cried out with tears in her eyes Blake hadn't noticed were there. Blake froze, and then deflated. She now instantly felt horrible, and horrified. There could be no arguing against that, all and any anger disappeared. Blake had never killed anyone herself, she hadn't wanted to cross that line even if Adam readily did and wanted her too. But she thought back to any deaths she had seen, trying to piece them together with what Ruby had just said. "Oh, I'm so sorry Ruby. The white fang killed her?" Blake softly spoke while frantic images of the few deaths at Adams hands she had actually witnessed flashed through her mind. She no longer had any high ground an-

"No, but they could have" Ruby sniffled.

"I do-WHAT?- Then how is that relevant and why are you crying now?!" Blake almost shouted, thoroughly confused and not sure how to act any longer, as tears were dropping down on the floor from Ruby's eyes.

"I don't know!" Ruby said and wiped some tears away from her eyes. "But you shouldn't kill people, and what if it_ had_ been my mo-mother?" Ruby's voice cracked at the end of the sentence, really hammering in that she now apparently was sad instead of anything else, something Blake didn't want to see or be the cause of.

"I'm sorry Ruby, I didn't know your mother was killed. I haven't ever killed anyone either, I shouldn't have spoken so carelessly just now." Blake wasn't sure exactly what she was apologizing for but it felt somewhat appropriate.

"It's, it's okay. But if you thought they could have caused my mums death, doesn't that mean they really are bad anyways?" Ruby said with an again wide-eyed expression. Blake opened her mouth to refute that, but she honestly couldn't come up with anything to say, especially considering she didn't want to make Ruby start crying again.

"I don't know Ruby, but please don't cry any more, I swear that wasn't my intention" she ended up settling for while closely watching the girl.

Ruby nodded her head in an important manner, and then in a small voice said "I know, I don't usually cry when I argue with someone. I think, I usually don't have anyone to argue with. But I don't want you to be a terrorist and then I thought of my mum."

At the word terrorist Blake sharply inhaled, it was not something she wanted Ruby to call her. "I'm really sorry Ruby. I might not have the best opinions of humans, but I swear I'm not evil. And I'm still far from recovered, so I'm not going away yet if you'll still have me" Blake said in a voice she tried to not make pleading.

"I can't exactly send you away can I? But I really don't like the thought of you being a member of the white fang… You also confessed to not being a murderer so you shouldn't associate with those who are."

"Well, you can't send me away, but you could leave yourself. And the white fang is something I've been a part of for most of my life. I know the direction it's gone into in recent years isn't what my parents envisioned when they founded it. But Adam, my mentor has always believed in more violent methods of taking what's ours and I follow him."

"Your parents started the white fang?!"

"Yes, many years ago. But they left it when it stopped being the peaceful organisation it once was, while I broke off with them and remained."

"That doesn't sound so bad, unlike Adam and your talk of following him. Maybe you should think for yourself instead of believing in someone like that."

Blake's lips tightened at this. "It's not that simple Ruby". The conversations had taken so many weird turns in such a short time span, going from tense, to hostile, to heartfelt and then now back somewhere between tense and hostile.

"The white fang hasn't come knocking on our door, so I bet it is. I'm going out, I'll be back for dinner. But you get no lunch for being stubborn" Ruby said in an angry and hurt voice and stormed off, leaving Blake alone again.

The conversation had not gone in any direction she had expected, but Ruby's crying had defused it for a while, probably keeping Blake from saying something she couldn't take back. So for that she was at least grateful. The atmosphere would probably not be very good from now on, and Blake really didn't want that. She hadn't realised until now, but aside from the boredom and pains from being injured, she was for the first time in a long while somewhat happy. Around her white fang associates, even Adam as of late, she always had to keep her guard up. Life here however had been simpler and more honest, no real dark undertones. It might be because she hadn't or had any choice but to rely on Ruby, but still. She _really _didn't want that to end, her talks with Ruby had become special despite how neutral and everyday-ey most of them had been.

She thought back to everything Ruby had said again, trying to make sense of what she actually felt. Introspection wasn't high on the list of Blake's pastimes, but she couldn't avoid it now. Why was she so determined to go back, when she neither felt happier nor could fully believe in what the white fang stood for any longer? What Ruby had said about her mother had stupidly enough been a wakeup call, because she somewhat couldn't picture a women who Ruby so clearly missed like evil. And that she immediately had thought the white fang had murdered clearly brought forth a message Blake didn't want to hear, but with a peaceful day going on outside and nothing to do inside it was hard to not listen.

Her thoughts circled around it for hours, but when the sun began to set, she deep down already knew she had made her decision. And when Ruby came into the house another couple hours later she had accepted her choice even if it terrified her.

As soon as Ruby made her way into Blake's room with a bowl of some kind of food, Blake inhaled, and spoke before she could decide to back out. "I'm not going back to the white fang"

Ruby, who just now had had a resigned expression changed into one of surprise and then happiness. "Really?" She exclaimed while putting down the bowl.

Blake just nodded, finding it too hard to give a proper answer. But that was apparently enough because Ruby squealed and at the awkward angle from standing to half-lying hugged Blake enthusiastically, causing Blake to whimper when she felt her ribs and arm being compressed.

Ruby at least had fast reflexions and quickly jumped back with a ´"sorry", but her expression still only radiated happiness though. "This is fantastic! I barely didn't even fantasize about this happening when I was gone cause I was mostly angry, I never thought you'd just change your mind!". Ruby reddened a little at her own words and Blake snorted. She was happy Ruby seemed so pleased, easing some of her worries about having made the right decision. But she had never done something this big before, even if it was only a decision just cemented by a few words and a nod, she was petrified.

Blake was not going back to the white fang, and she felt like a weight had been lifted of her. Her friend wasn't one of the bad guys, she could finally be absolutely sure about it. Her thoughts were already racing on what this happy prospect meant, maybe she could keep Blake now? Ruby didn't think the girl would be up and moving for at least another week, but maybe she would want to stay with Ruby afterwards as well, Blake had said she enjoyed her company yesterday after all hadn't she? Ruby at least hoped so, it would be nothing short of amazing. Blake was definitely a fighter, and in best case scenario a 'criminal' like Ruby. So then they could be literal partners in crime, except they were actually good people _stopping _bad things from happening. Despite her predicament, Ruby hadn't given up on her dream of becoming a huntress and was training for it every day. Having a partner would be another dream come true.

She was definitely getting ahead of herself she realised ruefully, but there was now hope for a much brighter tomorrow. Smiling to herself in the darkness of her own room probably looked silly, but she felt way to happy to just go to sleep and instead lay there just fantasizing for a long while.

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**AN: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! While writing this chapter I realised I should probably put in a slowburn in the summary, because even if the fic itself won't be super long compared to a lot of other fanfction, the ladybug aspect of it is still not going to progress super fast.**

**Adressing some reviews: thanks for the feedback on dialogue Sm0keypanda, I definitely considered it for this chapter :)  
Timrocks99, last chapter was not supposed to be in bold, no idea how that happened in the doc manger, but thanks for pointing it out.**

**Please review, feedback or appreciation for the chapter makes me happy ^^**


	5. Chapter 5

**Apologies for the long wait. Whenever I actually had the time to write I was left with no energy whatsoever, but it's better and less busy now.  
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Disclaimer: I don't own any part of RWBY**

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**Chapter 5**

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A week had passed since Blake had decided to not go back to her former life, and she was finally out of bed. The last week had been fun, as she realised, they had both let their guards down around each other a little more. The white fang was mostly in the back of her mind, and as her decision got more and more cemented in her reality her anxiety slowly ebbed out, not forgotten but not her main focus. Their time spent together had mostly been spent talking, or Ruby reading aloud. She didn't have to any longer, but it was a nice way to pass time and they hadn't really commented on the fact Blake could actually read by herself now.

"Time to show you around for real!". Ruby was leading Blake out of bed, who heavily had to lean on the girl while her body still protested against the movement. So far she had only moved around a little in her room, but today Ruby was determined to show her the rest of the house and outside as well. "Here we see the first door in the house, where I've come through many times in the past days. And wait for it wait for it here's the kitchen and living room!". Ruby kept up a steady commentary chatter while they slowly moved around, which Blake found a little amusing but hard to focus on as walking was quite the challenge. Her first breath outside however felt really good and gave her some extra energy to actually move around the house and take in their surroundings. Untouched forest filled with birds and falling autumn leaves, but the best part really was the crisp, slightly chill air she inhaled. After so long spent inside, it really was invigorating. "You know when you've got a cold and can't breathe through one or two of your nostrils?"

"Hmm?" Ruby said. "Finally being able to breathe real air outside feels like that. You don't really appreciate it until it's taken from you and you then get it back. I'll never speak ill of the weather again."

Ruby smiled. "I doubt that, but I agree. Walls sometimes make you feel claustrophobic, you don't truly feel alive cooped up inside a house. It's no way to live a life that's for sure."

During the next days, they kept up their usual routines, but Blake also moved around as much as she had the energy for to reawaken her body and it's muscles. Her recovery was beginning to speed up, and after another five days she began wearing gambol shroud wherever she went to get back in the habit of doing that as well.

Two days later, Blake asked Ruby to spare with her. "No way I'm beating the crap out of you!" was the answer to that. Blake quirked her eyebrows. "I too wouldn't find that very enjoyable, just want to get back into the habit. You do seem competent with that scythe of yours, so just match my level for a while."

"Oh, alright. Let's do it then!" Ruby eagerly said while blushing a little. She then went to pick up Crescent Rose and assumed a fighting stance, suddenly looking much more dangerous.

Blake rushed her while drawing Gambol Shroud, essentially separating it into two separate swords. The drawing turned out fine, the rushing a little stumble-y and about half as fast as she would have liked, but it was an attempt. While normally the point of rushing the opponent was to put you in the psychological advantage of being the attacker and pushing them backwards right from the get-go, Ruby instead had time to start moving herself, and did so with incredible speed. Right before they would have collided, Ruby threw herself to the left, with her scythe coming in from the side like an "L". Blake in her current state did not have the coordination to dodge that and instead had to bring up her swords like shields to at least soften the blow. The force made her fly in the same direction as Ruby, and she did a roll to get back up on her feet. Fallen leaves were flying around them but Blake was too focused on Ruby to notice. They were only a few feet apart as Ruby had stopped right after her sharp turn, so Blake immediately tried to slash at her bringing in her blades from the side. Ruby however easily jumped backwards and simply got out of their reach before they could hit her. She then brought down Crescent Rose like a hammer, although sharper than one, so Blake threw herself to the side. As the force of the blow made Crescent Rose sink through the ground and get stuck there, Blake tried to capitalise on that and lunged at Ruby now striking down with her blades from above. That did not work out either, as Ruby let go of Crescent Rose, took a step backwards so the blades neatly swiped just in front of her and then kicked Blake in between her chest and stomach. A rather merciful place to get kicked, but she still flew backwards and did not get up, instead opting to lay there and look up at the blue sky through the leaves. She was out of breath and her body felt wrung out. It couldn't have been longer than 10 seconds, but the high intensity of it had still took it's toll on her weakened body, who hadn't been working very good anyways. She felt uncoordinated and slow, her muscles neither responded quick enough or with any real strength behind them.

"I know it should be nothing in comparison to the last weeks two weeks, but this is somehow another hit on my pride, or whatever's left of it" Blake said from the ground, for the first time actually voicing any of all the embarrassment she had felt since coming here.

"Pride's what you make of it I think, but don't feel bad for needing help. You know I haven't minded"

"Thank you". Blake still sighed, although she did appreciate the answer. It wasn't only that though. Doubts about the White fang had started coming back, but now in another way. While staying with Ruby became more and more a reality, her past become more and more awful. Instead of continuing those thoughts however, she gathered some strength and sat up. She only now however noticed that Ruby had joined her on the ground, sitting against a tree. "Ready for round two?" Blake confidently said.

"Already?!" Ruby exclaimed with a surprised face.

"God no, I'm absolutely drained" Blake answered and stuck out her tongue.

Ruby snorted but didn't say anything more. Neither did Blake, so they just sat there for a while in silence. The sun was shining in on them from an opening in the trees giving off some warmth, and a light wind was slightly rustling the leaves. The calm environment made Blake sleepy, and she lay down again. She was soon snoring lightly, and Ruby let her be but stayed awake herself, she never had had the talent for sleeping during the day.

Around 20 minutes later Blake opened her eyes again, slowly blinking away the tiredness. She had fallen asleep, and also it seemed curled in on herself afterwards. She felt her cheeks heating up a little, this really wasn't like her. "Good morning" came a chirpy voice from beside her. She turned her head to the side to look at Ruby and yawned while doing so. "Morning" she mumbled out. "You really looked like a cat, curling in on yourself and falling asleep in the sun like that" Ruby snickered. Blake tensed up a little, immediately on the defensive. She however knew Ruby meant no harm by that comment and forced herself to relax. Anything from a human mouth regarding her faunus heritage set her on edge, fair or no fair. Ruby hadn't seemed to notice her initial reaction though, so no harm done. "It was warm, so I mistook it for a blanket okay?" she said. Ruby laughed, "That's fair".

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly with nothing else of much significance happening. In the coming week, Blake kept challenging Ruby to a new fight every day, and proved to be an increasingly challenging opponent. Six days had now passed since their first fight, and Blake was growing increasingly confident, at least as a warrior. Shadows of her past was also growing stronger, but it was easy to disregard that in the current sunlight.

"Ready to finally be beaten?" She said in a cocky voice to Ruby. "As if!" Was the answer to that, and the game was on.

Blake rushed Ruby just as the first time they had met, but was now much quicker. Right before her slash would actually hit anything she pushed her semblance to leave a copy of herself behind while she herself continued forward beside Ruby, and then making a quick stop and turn to continue the onslaught. Ruby had quickly seen through the clone and turned alongside Blake, but had still barely time to parry Gambol Shroud with the shaft of Crescent Rose. Blake didn't stop there however, and dropped down while kicking against Ruby. Ruby's legs flew out under her, but she managed to twist in the air and land while still holding on to Crescent Rose. Ruby then jumped backwards with Crescent Rose raised, assessing the situation. Blake was of course not standing idle and already on the way after Ruby, but that proved to be no problem as Ruby had enough time to swing Crescent Rose around. The blade was however too quick and instead of hitting Blake just arcing in front of her, so Blake thought Ruby had miscalculated. This however proved not to be true as Ruby used the momentum of her scythe to come in swinging from the side, perfectly timed to kick Blake in the back causing her to stumble forwards.

She didn't lose her balance completely, but Ruby capitalised on the moment and again swung her Scythe down on Blake. Blake managed to deflect the heavy blow, but not carelessly enough to be able to immediately attack Ruby while Crescent Rose was in a position away from her. Ruby raised her leg for a kick much in the same way Blake had been taken out of the fight the first time, but was now quick enough to jump backwards. They were now a small distance away from each other when their eyes locked, and Ruby grinned. It looked challenging enough, so Blake went in for the attack. Dropping right before Ruby below the arc of Crescent Rose and then quickly rising, she swung both parts of Gambol Shroud at the girl, but to no effect as Ruby managed to twist around both. Ruby then jumped backwards, with Blake following right along. She was raising her scythe for another blow from above, and Blake was raising her blades to parry it when Ruby upon hitting the ground began falling backwards, her left foot stuck in a hole. Blake wasn't prepared for that, and lost track of her steps as well, falling with Ruby and landed on top of her.

It was not the plan, but she was on top, and had in the fall time enough to bring the katana in her right hand just above where Ruby's throat was. Her other arm was pinned between herself and Ruby, with the blade sticking out at a straight angle beside them almost cutting into her right arm. "I win" Blake grinned down at Ruby and pressed her blade closer to Ruby's throat, their faces only inches apart. "Nu uh" Ruby said and nodded her head upwards. Blake looked up, and saw Crescent Rose looming just above her, a very clear threat. "A draw at best I'd say" Ruby said sounding smug, no doubt because Blake had just assumed a false victory. "Dammit" Blake said while looking right into Ruby's eyes. She started blushed, suddenly realising how tightly their bodies were pressed together with Blake lying on top. She quickly rolled off Ruby and looked away.

** o0o0o**

The last two weeks had been amazing Ruby thought, Blake was so much fun to be around. And their training matches this last week had been great too, Blake was certainly a skilled fighter. Ruby was quickly finding it harder and harder to win, but that just made it all the more fun. She suspected Blake would turn out to be the stronger fighter in the end, but then she was two years older and had more experience fighting against other people as well. That last part wasn't something Ruby was going to dwell on thought, she just looked forward to the future. Earlier today had been a really close call, and their match had ended quite spectacularly with Blake on top of her. Ruby didn't exactly know why but felt her cheeks heating up a little at that memory. Anyways, what it really proved was that Blake was healthy enough to leave this place now. Ruby had been worried the recovery would take too long, because it had now been several months since she'd last seen her family and it was soon time to meet up again, something Ruby greatly looked forward to and definitely couldn't miss. Now however she didn't have to worry about that anymore, and planned to bring it up with Blake tomorrow.

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**So, the recovery was sped up a little here and Blake is almost fine, cause I couldn't have her bedridden for another 10k words. I'm sorry for the cheesy ending scene as well, but I've always wanted to write that, and it felt great :) Also my fi****rst time writing an action sequence, so I hope it's understandable outside of my head. I didn't really use their semblances for the sake of simplicity, but I hope it was entertaining enough.**

**Please leave a review, it means a lot!**


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